Sweet Awakening (Complete Story) by Andrea O'Hanlon

Sweet Awakening Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The house we bought is white with dark brown exterior window shutters. There are a few trees in the front and the backyard is fenced in. When you walk into the front walk you come upon the porch first. The door is on the left. You walk into the living room first. Directly from the front door is the first and smallest bedroom. We will use it as a playroom/ Nursery for the grand babies. To the right of the living room is the door to the kitchen. Diagonal from the front door is the hallway leading to the bathroom the first door on the left, Lisa bedroom on the right and my bedroom on the end. Lisa and I have been sleeping on air-mattresses and sleeping bags for two days. The moving truck should arrive today. When the moving truck has finally just arrives. I direct the movers where to place the boxes. After the boxes are unloaded, they set up the furniture. Once they are gone Lisa, and I start unpacking the boxes. At 5 pm we order pizza while we wait we set up the t.v and dvd player. It takes 3 whole days to unpack the boxes.

Now that the house is set up. Lisa and I went to look for a shop. A realtor has shown us three shops that are all too small. She promises the next one will be bigger. We walk up to a red brick building on the corner on the main street. The building is surrounded by a parking lot. Next to us is a fast food place and a car lot. Across the street is a diner and antique shop. Three sides of the building is all windows. When I look inside it looks dingy. The realtor opens the glass front door. Inside is an open room with dirty white walls. Lisa gives me a skeptical look. "Let's see what the back looks like. The parking lot outside looks decent." I whisper to her. The building is set up like an old fast food shop. With an order counter and drive-up window. The kitchen part is greasy and dirty. "How long has this place been vacant?" The realtor was wiping her hands off on her pants. She had just open the office door. "It has been vacant two years now. The last business was shut down to health code violation. It has potential if someone will take the time to clean it up." The building is big enough and structurally sound. The problem was it needed gutted and redone. "How much for it?" The realtor flip through her papers. "15,000" Lisa looks at me questioning. We walk away from the realtor. "I like it. I know we will have to get a loan to gut it and refurnish it. But the building would be ours." Lisa sighs. "We wouldn't need a loan if you didn't give Kelsey half." I know Lisa was unhappy with the amount I gave Kelsey but understood why I did it. "I think she deserved it and the pictures she sent of the remodel looks fantastic." Lisa nods her head in agreement. "Ok let get the paper work started."

We have been at the new place for three and half weeks and not all of the mail has been forwarded to the new address yet. Kelsey has been picking it up and sending me a package once a week. I know I put in the mail forward request as soon as we knew the address. Lisa has been getting her mail just fine. I pull the mail out of the box. No mail from Kelsey and looks like my mail has the correct address on them. As I sort through them, there is an envelope with a feminine handwriting on it from GA. It has my old address on it. It must be the last of the mail to be forwarded. Inside is a hand-written letter.

Dear Christine

Today is May 23rd. I thought I saw you today. I know it was just my imagination getting the better of me. I miss you every day. I relive the last moments we were together and have many regrets. I still love you. I bury myself in work hoping it will distract me from my thoughts of you. It doesn't help I dream of you often. I wake up wishing you were next to me. I know our time together was short. Yet I fell deeply in love with you. You had asked me how do I knew I love you after only 5 months. Let me count the ways for you. In the short amount of time together I learned that you are highly educated, creative, independent, family oriented, blunt, gentle, caring and a private woman. I know your favorite meal is grilled sandwiches and fruit. I know sweets are your passion. I love that you don't bow down to confrontation. If you have an opinion, you speak it. I miss our heated debates we used to get in. I know I love you because I can't imagine my life without you. I look at my life before you were in it and after I met you. I am a better person because of you. I wish I would have met you sooner. I looked forward to every visit with you. I dreaded every time I had to go back to work. I was looking forward to moving to Iowa and living with you. Every time I saw you I couldn't help but smile. You filled my heart with happiness. Even as I write this. I know I will never send it. As much as I miss you and want to talk to you. I don't want to encroach on your life. I am hoping you are doing well. I am truly sorry for your parent's loss. I had come to look forward to the visit with them. I will miss the sport debates with your father. I miss you every day

Love you always

Paul

Tears fill my eyes. There is a second sheet of paper in the envelope. This one is a type letter

Dear Christine,

My name is Ruby. I am Mr. Jennings secretary. We met once and talked on the phone a few times. Mr. Jennings gave me this to shred. After reading it. I sent it to you. Hoping if you feel the same at all you will possible contact Mr. Jennings and try again.

Sincerely

 Ruby 

I think about Paul every day. Always wondering how he was doing and if he missed me as much as I missed him. I am so ecstatic to read Paul's letter. I pick up my phone to call him and tell him exactly how I felt. Except his phone number is no longer in my phone and I can't seem to remember any of the numbers. I sit on my bed and cry.

Lisa and I nearly have the shop complete. The store room is finally organized. The tables and chairs get delivered today. After we set up the tables and chairs, I take a step back and admire our handy work. What was a dingy greasy mess is now a white and rose red and chocolate brown sweet shop. We hired a junk company come and take everything out of the building. Once we completely cleared the shop. We hired a company come in and pressure wash the inside, outside of the building and the parking lot. The outside look really nice once all the grim and dirt was washed away. We got our store name painted on the windows. Once on each of the three sides. The parking lot will need a little TLC in the months to come. Inside we had the floor redone with white and rose red octagonal tiles. We removed the counter and made the lobby smaller by placing a new ledge top counter display case flush with the first bathroom. The display case runs from one wall all the way across the leaving room for and an employee entry door and bathroom door. We made the women's bathroom into a family bathroom. The men's bathroom we made into an employee bathroom. The display case will hold chocolates and Lisa cupcakes. The display case trim is painted chocolate brown. The walls are painted white with thin strips of rose red and chocolate brown side by side every 12 inches apart. We have two small white table sitting on each side of the room with two chair each. There is a refrigerated display cabinet for some of Lisa's cakes. Behind the counter is space enough to walk back and forth from counter to drive-thru window. We plan to use the drive-up window for pre-orders. Then there is a wall between the front and the back. In the back we split up into two halves. The front is the kitchen. There is a walk-in freezer and a walk-in fridge on the left wall. We got two industrial stoves. One for me and one for Lisa. We also have a double wall oven on the right wall for her to bake with. We have three work tables. All stainless steel of course. The back half is dry storage where we keep all the baking ingredient and tools. We have a small office in the corner for filing and a computer. So far we only go in there to find recipes and pay bills and order stuff. We spend most of our time cooking or with customers.

It is July 4th. Today is our grand opening. Lisa and I have spent the last two day making thousands of 5 different flavor cupcakes and chocolates. We got a banner outside reading GRAND OPENING OF SWEET DELIGHTS. We passed out flyers for weeks now. We are opening the doors at 10am. It is 9:45. I am running around making sure any last-minute tasks are complete. Jacob and Danielle has the day off and are helping us. At 10 we open the front door and is surprised to some familiar faces amongst the crowd. Adam and Sara. They brought the twins. Howard and Martha from the Halloween party. Tyler and his wife Samantha and Daniel and his wife Aubrey from the movie premier. Duane and his girlfriend Adriana. "What are you all doing here?" Duane is the first to speak up. "Jacob passed a flyer to me and then I showed it to them. Don't worry I didn't say anything to him." The way Duane said him. I knew he was talking about Paul. After reading his letter. I kind of wish he did. It would be nice to have him at my side since my parents can't be. Unfortunately, I messed it all up with him by not calling him sooner and apologizing. Even though I really miss him. He isn't the one who sent the really sweet letter. I don't know how to approach him to tell him how I feel. I turn my attention back to the crowd of people here to support me. "Thank you all for coming. Please come in and enjoy the samples." People came in and out throughout the day. Giving us compliments on the samples and the way the store looks better than it had before. I got the chance to talk with Martha about how her kids are. At 8 pm we closed up shop for the day. "It was a fantastic first day." Lisa has a big smile on her face. "I agree. We already have orders." We get into the car and drive home.